Methods of assessment of the natural environment in examining the relationship between its diversity, values and tourism in Western Australia’s National Parks

In 2004, the author studied the impact of the diversity of the environment and natural values in national parks of Western Australia on the number of tourists visiting them. The research indicates that the highest correlation is between natural values and number of tourists, a smaller one is between the diversity of the environment and natural values and the lowest correlation is between the diversity of the environment and the number of tourists. Such studies reąuire proper methods for evaluation of the natural environment. This paper discusses differences between the two main methods. The first, which describes diversity of the environment in national parks, is based on the evaluation made for the whole continent, where six main features of the environment were measured in the grid of sąuares. The natural values were studied with a greater accuracy on the basis of the descriptions and maps concerning the parks' territory. Attractiveness in respect to natural values is presented by the sum of points. Each park received from 0 to 2 points for each of the 18 natural values.